


Bomb in a Bottle

by Aztecl



Series: Aztecl's Spring-Break-a-Bone-or-Two [4]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Aztecl's Spring-Break-a-Bone-or-Two, Blood, Episode: s03e11-12 Past Tense, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fire, Gen, Head Injury, Injury, Time Travel, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 03:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30133452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aztecl/pseuds/Aztecl
Summary: After a few seconds, Sisko heard a faint echo: a hissing of some kind. He barely had time to react or process whatever was happening before the tendrils of a fireball lashed towards him. The alleyway was painted in a hazy blur of orange, gold, and an angry red that screamed with the roar of fire. Soon after the first explosion, Sisko heard more shattering of glass as the flames rose higher and higher. (AU of "Past Tense" featuring Molotov cocktails)[Aztecl's Spring-Break-a-Bone-or-Two #4: Trail of Blood]
Relationships: Julian Bashir & Benjamin Sisko
Series: Aztecl's Spring-Break-a-Bone-or-Two [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2211519
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Bomb in a Bottle

**Author's Note:**

> Ah yes, canon divergence of "Past Tense," in which I take the brilliant meaning and story of this episode and throw in out the window in favor of whump. Let's pretend Gabriel Bell doesn't exist or whatever. He's irrelevant.

Firelight flickered onto Bashir's face as Sisko sat adjacent to both him and their makeshift campfire. Bits of fire sparked and rose into the air, fading into the night sky of San Francisco. Sisko noticed him sitting cross-legged with his hands in front of him. He would rub them together every few seconds in an attempt to combat the brittle cold that had swept through the sanctuary district. The wind blew with a great whistle, billowing Bashir's coat to and fro. 

It occurred to Sisko that sleeping in a freezing place ridden with crime and injustice was an awful idea, but he also didn't fathom having any other choice. They were both tired, and it didn't do any good towards solving their problem if they were completely drained of energy. He decided they would just have to take the risk and deal with potential consequences at a later time. Hopefully, when that time came, they would be at least a little bit more restful.

"Doctor," Sisko said. "Try to get some sleep. There's nothing else we can do right now."

Bashir's eyes moved from the fire and up to his commanding officer. "Alright, sir. What about you?"

"I'd be a bit of a hypocrite if I didn't take my own advice," he replied, smiling in spite of himself.

Sisko patted the spot next to him. The concrete was chill to the touch and as hard as a bulkhead. Shivering, Bashir adjusted his coat as he lowered himself onto the ground next to Sisko. They exchanged a final, wordless glance before Sisko shut his eyes and drifted off into a light sleep. It must've been lighter than he had originally thought, for a loud clang startled him awake after what he assumed to be a few hours later. His eyes were open in an instant. His companion did the same.

"Commander," Bashir whispered urgently. He motioned with a hand to the left. Then, he twisted it to a sharp right.

Sisko nodded, sitting up without so much as a sound. He paused and listened. Beyond the rustling movements from Bashir, he heard nothing. Their campfire wasn't even going, as neither Sisko or Bashir had rekindled the flames due to the scarcity of flammable material before sleeping. He trusted all of his officers, though. If Bashir could detect a sound from down the alley and around the corner, then something was happening.

They stood. After a few seconds, Sisko heard a faint echo: a hissing of some kind. He barely had time to react or process whatever was happening before the tendrils of a fireball lashed towards him. The alleyway was painted in a hazy blur of orange, gold, and an angry red that screamed with the roar of fire. Soon after the first explosion, Sisko heard more shattering of glass as the flames rose higher and higher.

Coughing, he squinted through the smoke and tried to find Bashir. The only step he took in the right direction was a yelp of… pain? Confusion? Panic? Sisko wished he had answers for those questions, but all he knew was that the yell had come from Bashir.

There was more yelling, which he assumed came from their attackers. He was blind to their location, however, as his eyes were watering from the wall of smoke polluting the once semi-calm sky of the city he'd once known. For one of only a few times in his life, Benjamin Sisko felt helpless as to protecting Bashir and himself from the downpour of glass and fire. The fleeting thought chilled him straight down to his bones, more so than the cold he'd silently complained about just hours before.

"Julian!" Sisko yelled.

Another explosion rang sharp. It was far too close for comfort to where they'd been sleeping.

Sisko was met with no response. He wondered if Bashir had been caught in one of the fires, perhaps being blown off his feet and hitting the hard, unforgiving concrete. It was only seconds later when his suspicions were confirmed by the sight of Bashir lying limp, his head sitting dangerously close to the fire.

He didn't think, he just acted. Sisko ignored the pounding of his heart with a practiced ease, racing towards the unconscious doctor. He couldn't reach Bashir's head without potentially setting both of them on fire, so Sisko opted to grab both of his legs and practically drag him across the alley. Anywhere away from their mysteriously vanished attackers and the fires engulfing the area would work.

He was acutely aware of how Bashir's head scraped along the concrete. Any injuries he'd endured could be getting worse with every second, but Sisko knew he couldn't dwell on that sickening thought. Their attackers looked to be gone, which did nothing to reassure him. Instead, he kept going down the grimy alley of the sanctuary district.

In the moonlight, something caught his eye. Sisko frowned and paused for a minute, peering down at Bashir's head. His breathing hitched when he spotted the red glare of blood glinting in the light. There was a trail of blood from a head injury he'd acquired, leading all the way back to the sight of the fire.

They reached a corner and Sisko dragged Bashir behind the wall of a crumbling building. Immediately, he crouched next to Bashir and felt for two things: a weaker than normal pulse and a lump the size of a goose's egg at the back of his head. His hand came away sticky with crimson blood. Sisko shrugged off his jacket and quickly wrapped it around Bashir's head. There wasn't necessarily a lot of blood, but it was still an amount copious enough to raise worry, especially since Bashir was the only doctor in the entire sanctuary district.

He thought about asking the workers for medical care. Their delivery of any treatment was unlikely, so Sisko pushed the thought to the back of his mind. Instead he needed to focus on keeping Bashir well enough to last until the  _ Defiant  _ and her crew could find them. And Dax, as he hadn't any clue to her whereabouts. 

"Julian," Sisko murmured. "Can you hear me?" Probably not, he thought—

"Commander…" If the voice had been any quieter, he would've never heard it.

"Save your strength, Doctor," Sisko told him, gently. "You've sustained a head injury, and you've also lost a lot of blood."

Bashir's head turned side to side as he tried to fully wake up. Once his eyes finally managed to open, they rolled into the back of his head as he lost consciousness. Sisko put two fingers to the doctor's wrist and rechecked his pulse. He was satisfied to feel its steady thrumming, but not very much.

Sisko sighed as he remembered the sudden fires. He thought back to old weapons used in riots and attacks, from a time decades if not centuries before warp and space travel. The shattering of glass linked with the flames pointed to one such thing: a Molotov cocktail, if Sisko wasn't mistaken. It was like a ship in a bottle - but instead used as a dangerous thing of destruction.

A strange yet familiar sound snapped him out of his thoughts. Sisko stood quickly, thinking back to the telltale hissing of their earlier assault. However, he soon realized it was the whirring of a transporter. Someone was beaming down into the sanctuary district.

He heard a voice from down the alley, originating from a side street. As Sisko edged closer, he was able to make out the end of their conversation.

"I-I broke my nose," someone muttered, obviously uncomfortable. And easily recognizable as the voice of Major Kira.

Sisko emerged from the alley and spotted her, Dax, and Chief O'Brien. "Major!"

"Ben!" Dax greeted while Kira grinned, a bandage covering her nose ridges. "Is Julian with you?"

"Come on." He beckoned them forward as he led his crew towards their unconscious friend. "He's got a head injury, I don't know how severe it is."

"We'll beam you both straight to the  _ Defiant's  _ Sickbay," O'Brien promised.

Kira narrowed her eyes. "Commander, your head is also bleeding."

With his already bloody hands, Sisko reached up to his forehead and felt a small yet deep cut, likely from a shard of glass. He waved her off and continued towards Bashir. When they reached him, Dax kneeled down and scanned him with her tricorder. She paled slightly at the readings, and tapped her combadge.

"Dax to  _ Defiant _ ," she said. "Lock onto the away team and everyone within a two meter radius. Beam them to Sickbay."

O'Brien mirrored her. "Energize."

And with that, they faded from the sanctuary district and rematerialized in a place where Sisko knew Bashir would receive medical treatment. He would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> If I wasn't already on some kind of FBI watchlist, I'm definitely on several now. My search history: "Molotov cocktails", "head injury", "star trek past tense", "is blood a liquid." I got distracted on that last one.
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)


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